HOLLAND

Having swapped Belgium for Holland we have spent the last 4 days in Maastricht, a lovely old city on the River Maas. Eating out in belgium and Holland have proved a bit pricey & we have not done so save a bag of frites and mayo. The cheapest 3 course set menu is 25 euros and even acroque monsieur, which is merely a jumped up ham and cheese toastie will knock you back 9 euros!
All the people we have met on sites have been Belgian, Dutch or German. The Belgians are a pretty miserable bunch and the Germans will stiffly acknowledge you with a "morgen". The Dutch, however, are very friendly and they all speak good heavily accented English including checkout girls and roadsweepers. In fact I'm inclined to think, in the vein of the Gary Larson "cows" cartoon thet only speak Durch to each other when tourists are near and as soon as our backs are turned they talk to each other in accented English. Whilst I cannot forgive Steve Maclaren's tenure as England Manager I am quite understanding maybe his famous press conference.
More next week.